Sarah Huckabee Sanders hopes to be remembered as ‘transparent and honest’

December 12, 2018

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said her goal is “make America a little better that day than it was the day before.” (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP)

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has grand ideas about her legacy.

Speaking at Politico’s “Women Rule” event Tuesday, Sanders said she hopes she’s remembered as “transparent and honest” when her tenure in the Trump administration is over.

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“I hope that it will be that I showed up every day and I did the very best job that I could to put forward the president’s message, to do the best job that I could to answer questions, to be transparent and honest throughout that process and do everything I could to make America a little better that day than it was the day before,” she said during an on-stage interview with Eliana Johnson.

Sanders, who rarely holds press briefings anymore, has frequently been accused of lying to or misleading the press corps; of six rulings on Politifact, Sanders has earned five “false” readings and one “pants on fire.”

The press secretary also defended President Trump’s antagonistic relationship with the media and specifically female reporters. In particular, Trump has routinely attacked female reporters of color, including April Ryan, Abby Phillip and, last month, “PBS NewsHour’s” Yamiche Alcindor.

“The president’s had an equal number of contentious conversations with your male colleagues. Women wanted to be treated equally, and we have a president that certainly does that,” Sanders said.

“I don’t always find the behavior of the press to be appropriate, either. I think that the president is somebody who’s a fighter. When he gets hit, he always hits back.”

As for speculation that she would be the next Trump aide out the door, Sanders said there were no plans for her exit.

“As long as I feel like I’ve been called to the place that I am and I feel I’m an effective messenger for the president — and frankly, he feels like I’m an effective messenger for him — I’d like to continue doing what I do,” she said. “I love my job.”